6) Whisper
by The Hummingbird Tales
Summary: (Sequel to 'Cold') A tap dripping causes Clara Oswald to reluctantly clamber out of bed and mke her way downstairs. Unfortunately for her, she's about to discover the reason that The Doctor told her not to be up at 3:00 AM, and her worst enemy seems to have been brought back to life... (Set after HGD, slight gore, major Whouffaldi. Slightly sad ending. Reveiws please!)
1. Chapter 1 - 3 AM

Clara yawned; another long day lay behind her. She, Psi and Saibra had all gone for a day out together, and the Doctor had tagged along. The day before, they had gone to Earth's parallel dimension to have a look around and had inevitably gotten separated. Now they were all back together and had decided to go out for coffee together on a dark chilly March evening.

They were heading back home in Psi's car, as they believed if they went in the TARDIS, something would go wrong.

Unfortunately for them, that's what was about to happen.

"Tired?" The Doctor asked Clara, who, sitting behind him, absent-mindedly stared out of the window.

"Of course…" Clara replied, yawning. She turned her head to the side to look across at Saibra, who was currently eating a sandwich. She was about to drift off to sleep, but she was awoken by Psi's voice speaking, suddenly:

"Well, I have to drive all the way back home, too, and drop Saibra off."

"You don't have to," Clara shrugged, "Why don't you just stay the night at mine? I've got two spare rooms, I don't mind."

Saibra smiled, clearly keen on the idea.

"That ain't a bad idea…" Psi agreed.

"That settles it, then!" Clara nodded, and then went back to staring out the window. She frowned when she thought she caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye, but brushed it off as she was still tired and thought she might've imagined it. Maybe she shouldn't have been so certain…

* * *

Later that night, as she lay in bed, she cycled through her list of things she had to do every night. The door was locked, the windows were closed, all the lights were turned off and no electrical appliances were on. Everything should've been fine, and yet she still felt restless.

Closing her eyes, she attempted to fall asleep again, when she heard it: a quiet dripping noise coming from downstairs.

Frowning, Clara picked up her torch and tiptoed out into the hall. Trotting down the steps, she reached the living room door. It squeaked as she pushed it open, but over the creak, she heard a whoosh come from inside.

She shone her torch around the "empty" room that wasn't as empty as it should've been.. She saw, at the other side of the room, behind the armchair, a slightly darker patch of shadow. Shining her light over it, it seemed to move. She continued following it until it stopped beside the other armchair and two red lights flashed out of it at her.

The two crimson glows looked worryingly like eyes.

It flashed into Clara's mind that she knew exactly what these eyes belonged too, even though she had before believed that they were all gone...

She slowly closed the door and scrambled up the stairs in the dark, taking care not to wake Psi or Saibra.

She darted into her room, shut the door, turned on the lights, picked her phone up and, with shaking hands, dialled The Doctor's number.

She got a reply a few seconds later, hearing the TARDIS whirring in the background.

"Clara?" The Doctor's slightly confused voice answered, "Something wrong? You never ring up for anything."

"Doctor," Clara whispered, less-than-calmly, "The shadows, the shadows in Victorian London, Shadow and her children… they're back… and they're here…"


	2. Chapter 2 - 'What I Did Last Time'

Breathing was the only thing that could be heard in that room at that time; Clara's breathing – heavy breaths amplified by the stillness of the space around her.

She currently had her head wedged in-between the door and the doorframe while she crouched down on the floor, her torch clutched in her trembling hands,held up underneath her chin as she listened for the TARDIS.

The Doctor had sounded quite anxious when she had called him to tell him what was happening, as he should've been. If Clara could remember anything that had happened on that day in Victorian London, it would be the utter agony and misfortune that just seemed to follow her around…

When she had first arrived, one of these 'shadow creatures' had attempted to enter her body, but for some reason decided it was a bad idea but it left her with a throbbing pain in her chest and back. After that, she'd ventured around with The Doctor for a while and discovered a lair that the shadows were populating – in this place, she had suffered a torture device being strapped around her neck (a terrifying wheel with spikes that threatened to sink into heroesophagus[1] at any given opportunity, not letting her get into a comfortable posture and hence depriving her of sleep). Subsequent to that, she'd been locked up, chained, almost pushed onto a chair of nails, had bricks thrown at her, been knocked into a pool of dead bodies, gotten amnesia and forgotten utterly everything about her days along with The Doctor. Later, they had found out exactly what the shadow creatures were: they crawled inside you, controlled your actions and drove you mad; making you feel oh-so-alone and fed on your life energy until you had nothing left and disappeared, leaving you lifeless, before moving onto the next innocent victim.

They could be destroyed by fire and light, so that's what The Doctor and Clara did to get rid of them: burned them. And as for their leader Shadow, well, TheDoctor sorted her out good and proper after she tried to take Clara's life. Clara very much believed she had rid the world of these terrible creatures, but oh,how wrong she was…

As she was remembering the torture she had once been through, she heard a very sudden click of a door handle that made her almost fall over in surprise.

It was the back door, leading off from the kitchen (which was straight opposite her at the other end of the room) and a few moments later, the kitchen door creaked open and The Doctor's face appeared, staring across at her.

"Oh, hello, Doctor," Clara whisper-shouted over to him, a rather bothered look on her face, "Took your time, I've been sat here ages."

"Sorry," The Doctor apologised, "…Wait, why are you whispering?"

"Oh, I don't know," Clara huffed, "Just seems like it'd be of some good. Anyway, I'm not quite prepared, nor do I have the means, to burn the street down to get rid of this one monster, what do I do? Chase it round the house? Let it get inside me? Like Shadow did? I'm not-"

"Right, calm down, sweetheart. First thing's first, you'd better come here so we can have a proper conversation," The Doctor hushed her, motioning her over with his hand.

Clara bit her lip and stood up. She flashed her eyes about the room, saw the shadow with its glowing red eyes still focused on her, shone her light at it – but it ran to another part of the room – and scowled before gingerly padding over to The Doctor, who wrapped an arm around her shoulders in his kindly manner.

"I thought we'd gotten rid of them all?" Clara glared as she clung onto The Doctor's shirt with her spare hand, still waving her light about.

"Clara, one family is not a whole race: there's plenty more of these Shadow folk strewn across the universe, you can't expect to be free of each and every one. Since the incident with Shadow, I've been doing a bit of research about their kind: their legitimate title is 'The Midnight Wisps' and there's more folklore about them than I first expected to find… but more about that later. Right now, my precedence is getting you safe, because if they know you're awake after 3AM, they'll force you to a vow of secrecy if you survive. That's what usually happens."

"Usually? You mean it happens a lot?"

"Well, most people encounter the Wisps once in their lifetime at least. They only worry themselves half to death, having no experience with monsters and such. But we can deal with this as long as you're strong, Clara. Understood?"

"Understood," Clara replied, quietly.

The Doctor was about to open his mouth to say something else, but he was interrupted by footsteps coming down the stairs.

"I heard talking; wondered what was going on so I came down," came Saibra's voice from the hallway. She emerged at the door a moment later, looking slightly confused. She caught sight of The Doctor and Clara, holding each other close, and smiled, "Aw! You make such a cute pair!"

"Saibra, I'm warning you, go back to bed. NOW!" Clara snapped, holding her torch as if it were a gun and lighting up the room in the process.

"Why?" Saibra asked, innocently.

Clara bit her lip and sighed before replying,

"Remember me telling you about Shadow?"

"Yes?"

"Well… she wasn't… the last of her kind. There's more, and they're here."

"You're not going to set the house on fire, are you?" Saibra asked, trembling, reaching for the light switch beside her.

"Of course not: all we have to do is try and destroy them by light, or find their leader and somehow warn her away. Turn the lights on, that might work."

But as Saibra flicked the light switch, the lights didn't turn on and the trio was still enveloped in darkness, apart from the glow of the torch (which seemed to be flickering)…

"Well," The Doctor started, "Isn't this a great time for a power cut?"

"Well, what do we do, then?" Clara huffed, annoyed.

"You could always let one-" Saibra started.

"No! I'm not letting one of those appalling THINGS anywhere near me! I've done that before and don't intend to do it again," Clara snapped, adamantly.

Just as she did, her torch flickered once more and the light died as the battery ran out.

Clara swallowed.

"Run."

I[2]

The trio had hurried upstairs and into the spare bedroom, lit all the candles they could find and were now contemplating what to do next whilst Saibra quivered in the corner.

When Clara had told the story of Shadow to her, Saibra had thought it sounded incredibly appalling but Clara had assured her that the events of that day would never come about again.

She now wished that had been the case.

"Doc, tell Psi to stay in bed if he wakes up: the last thing I want is another person worrying about stuff," Clara said at last, "I'll stay here with Saibra."

"Right," The Doctor nodded, heading out into the hallway, carrying a candleholder.

Clara then turned to Saibra.

"Nothing good's going to come by just waiting here, we'll have to do something."

"What CAN we do? We're doomed!" Saibra groaned.

The Hummingbird bit her lip as she thought up a response.

"You know what happened last time?"

"What?"

"I completely lost my mind. You know why?"

"No?"

"Because I was scared. It would've turned out fine and dandy if I'd have kept to my senses and worked out a plan… but I didn't: I fidgeted and worried and everything that could go wrong did go wrong. This time, though, if we all stay calm, it'll be fine. You trust me?"

Saibra nodded.

"Good," Clara smiled, "Now come on: let's think of a plot."

Thinking can be very difficult when you're under a lot of pressure… and, of course, when your life is in jeopardy. It helps to have a friend (or two) to help out in your thinking endeavour, even if those two friends are scared out of their wits, too.

'Last time', in Victorian London, was one of the many things Clara desired to forget, and she wished never to experience it again. Yet here she was: stalked by Shadows in her own home.

She knew exactly how this was going to end, and even though she didn't like it, she knew she'd have to do something awfully stupid and similar to what she did to Shadow: what she'd promised herself never to do again.

It's one thing telling someone not to worry, but it's another to stay calm yourself…

"So..?" Saibra urged, bringing Clara back to reality.

"I… honestly don't know what to do," Clara sighed, sitting up on the edge of the bed. What she'd said wasn't a lie at all, but it wasn't quite the truth, either. She swallowed and began to pace around the room until The Doctor came to see her. She spied a Wisp from the corner of her eye and, though her heart skipped a beat, she stayed collected and didn't flinch.

The awkwardness of the silence intensified until Clara made up her mind on what she'd do and, with a spin, she clapped her hands together and stated her plan.

"We need to find the leader," she said.

"Why?" Saibra asked, uncertainly.

"If the leader of one particular colony dies, the rest of the family follow suit."

"And what do you plan to do when you find the leader?" The Doctor asked, suddenly appearing in the doorway.

Clara swallowed,

"Exactly what I did last time."


	3. Chapter 3 - What are you getting into?

Never before had Saibra witnessed The Doctor and Clara arguing, and she didn't intend to witness it ever again.

She didn't even know who to side with: they both made a very good point, but they both said the polar opposite of each other.

"There's NO OTHER WAY!" Clara insisted, a growl in her voice. She was adamant that she had to go through with her plan, whether it was the safe option or not.

"Of course there is!" The Doctor retorted, "You just haven't found it yet."

Clara was about to speak again, but The Doctor cut her off,

"You're not made of titanium! Under no circumstances do I want you to get hurt!" He rejoined.

Clara drew her breath and bit her lip, staring down at the carpet as a child does when they know they've done something wide of the mark. She flicked her eyes up to the doorframe and then to the floor again,

"…Doctor, I…" she started, "…I just… Ugh! Look, I'm sorry; I just want to do what's best. It's not just you and me anymore, you know? I have people to look after, and I don't want them undergoing the pain that I went through the last time this happened…"

The Doctor reluctantly agreed to this with a slow nod and a heavy sigh. He laid the candle down on the windowsill and held his arms out.

Clara stumbled to him and softly looped her arms around him (which Saibra smiled at, of course) The Doctor whispered to Clara, his face buried in her hair.

"Right, get your shoes and jacket on, then, and we'll go and find this shadow…"

* * *

"Let's get this over and done with…" Clara said, under her breath, as she laced up her trainers and straightened her faux leather jacket.

She was still convinced that she'd have to do what she'd said she wouldn't do… she wasn't looking forward to it, but at least (she thought) she'd be prepared for it and could deal with it in a jiffy.

But for now, a different task was at hand: actually FINDING the shadow leader.

"It'll be some place dark," The Doctor stated, holding his index finger up to emphasize the point he was about to make, "The rest of the Wisps like to keep their leader in the dark where nobody can see them, as you can imagine. Ever since Shadow, I've been reading up on the shadows: their proper name is The Midnight Wisps and they come out between midnight and 5AM, but 3AM is when they're most active."

"Come… out?" Saibra stuttered, "From where?"

"They live in the shadows."

"So not all shadows are alive?"

"No, of course not; the wisps hide in them until you're fast asleep and then they come out to play. Some of them even lurk about during the day, and often times people see them from the corner of their eyes… sometimes they'll even enter your mind for 'fun'. Do you ever get that shiver that seems to come out of nowhere and that surprises you so much that you just stay frozen for a few moments?"

Clara nodded, as did Saibra.

"That's a Wisp," The Doctor continued, "People say they hear voices, but they don't… they hear the Wisps… Anyway, enough about that: we need to find somewhere dark and abandoned to go to look: let's get going, I know just the place."

* * *

"Never knew there was an old abandoned factory in Burnley…" Clara mumbled as she walked along the corridor of a derelict building.

"Well, now you know," The Doctor replied, following her, Saibra tagging along behind, "The Wisps never stray too far from their leader, and this place is only a 25 minute drive away from your house."

"You think it's here, then?" Clara asked, putting her wing around Saibra to keep her warm (Saibra always loved it when she did this. She liked the feel of her friend's fluffy feathers).

"Almost certain. You may not want to refer to it as an 'it', though…" The Doctor coughed.

"What, then?"

"'She' would be more appropriate."

"It's a girl?" Saibra exclaimed.

"Yes, the wisp leader is more-or-less the mother of all the other wisps. Every night at 12AM, she produces more and more clones. You see, the wisps are only there to serve their leader, who feeds on life energy. They go off to find people and suck the life from them: usually not much – harmless – but if on some nights the mother is feeling especially hungry, the wisps may kill the host."

"How much reading did you do?" Clara sniggered.

"A lot," The Doctor stated.

"It shows…" Clara hummed amusedly, looking about the factory floor for any signs of shadows. She should have brought a torch…

A blur flashed past them at the end of the hallway, heading left.

Clara remembered the first time she'd ever met a wisp; she had a lot of bad memories of that day…

'What am I getting myself and my friends into?' She asked herself, taking The Doctor's hand,

"Saw one go left," she stated aloud with a nervous cough.

"Then that's where we'll head," The Doctor whispered to her, squeezing her hand, gently.

And so the trio hurried down the dark passage, avoiding planks of wood scattered about the floor as they went…

They probably should have been a tad quieter, as somebody – or something – could hear them… and she could hear them very well…


	4. Chapter 4 - The Mother

Psi had grown bored.

The Doctor hadn't told him anything about what was going on, and that was a bit of a mistake, as now he was getting curious - dangerously so.

The Doctor had only told him to stay in bed and stay away from the shadows so now, Psi decided, it wouldn't kill him to get up and get a snack from the kitchen… so he headed down the attic steps and to the landing.

As soon as he reached the top of the stairs, he could sense something was… off.

"DOC?" He called, creeping down the steps and not receiving a reply, "Saibra? Hummingbird?" But still nothing; the house was empty. "…Not funny, guys…"

He gazed into the front room in confusion and saw, in the corner, two red eyes flash open to stare at him from the shadows…

* * *

"In here?" Saibra suggested, nodding to a room to her right.

Clara poked her head around the corner into the room and looked around to see, in the centre, a huge Wisp sitting there with a faint glow to its scarlet eyes. The sight brought back bad memories of Shadow; more things she had tried to forget…

"I think we've found her…" she whispered.

"Let's go, then," Saibra smiled, stepping into the room.

Clara stopped her,

"No!" She hissed, "You'd get yourself killed! I have to do this… on my own…"

"Are you sure?" The Doctor asked, concerned, "I mean, I can come with you if you like, it'd be easier-"

"We'll go together," Clara replied, "Shadow seemed to know who you were, she could have passed on that knowledge and if this leader knows you killed Shadow, she might not want to come near you."

The Doctor hummed a 'yes' and laid a hand on Clara's shoulder,

"We'll see… you stay here, Saibra, and be as quiet as you can."

Saibra nodded to him and waved as he and Clara headed into the decrepit room.

The leader turned to The Doctor and The Hummingbird and snarled,

"What are you doing here?" She snapped in her odd, low and husky (but still vaguely feminine) voice.

The Doctor coughed,

"My name is The Doctor and this is my friend, Clara-"

"More like girlfriend," Saibra corrected, under her breath.

"Did you say… The Doctor?" The Wisp mother hissed, drifting backwards, slightly scared, it seemed.

"I did, indeed," The Doctor nodded.

"The other mothers have told me about you… get back! Or I'll set my army on you to do what you did to Shadow…"

The Doctor cleared his throat and shifted his weight on his feet before proclaiming,

"Well, if you don't want my life, maybe you can have a go at Clara… after all, she helped kill Shadow."

"Clara…" the mother growled, "…How are you still alive? Did Shadow not batter you enough? How have you not aged?"

"Time travel," Clara replied with a confident air to her voice, "I'm stronger than you think and I have a lot of fight left in me, if you'd care to find out?"

"I'll consider it… you look as if you'd make a fine banquet, but why are you so eager to have me take your life?"

"Well, I thought that if you were full, you'd leave and move on to the next place; leaving me and my friends alone," Clara shrugged. This was technically not a lie.

"If that is how you wish to play the game, so be it," the Wisp said, an evil smile spreading across her face, a hint of happiness in her harsh voice, "As long as 'The Doctor' would kindly leave? I would be grateful of fresh meat…"

The Doctor turned Clara to face him, whispering to her,

"Listen… I realise you think this will be easy, but the shadow has different plans; she'll mess with your mind and convince you you're worthless and that nobody would care if you caved in and died… and look, it's going to be hard – harder than you think – so I really want you to remember something… you mean the most to me out of all the people in the universe, human or alien, and if you left me again… I really don't know what I'd do. My only wish is for you to stay strong and believe in yourself, OK?"

Clara stood and stared at him momentarily, astounded at the amount of fondness that The Doctor had expressed to her. She didn't think anyone had ever been so kind to her before...

"Oh… Okay… I'll…" she started, and then composed herself, "I'll make you proud."

The Doctor smiled at her, laying a hand on her jaw,

"Be strong," he reminded her, kissing her forehead and exiting the room, "Shush: you didn't hear… anything," he whispered to Saibra as they trudged down the hall to where the Wisp couldn't hear them.

Even though she was expecting it, the coldness of the Wisp sliding down the back of her throat and into her eyes still startled her.

Now she was in the position to carry out her plan, she had to cut to the chase and do it. She was certain that her plan was possible; it consisted of three easy steps:

Fool the mother into thinking she'd given in.

Bring together all of her will power and fight back to exhaust the Wisp and gain control over her body.

Dispose of the wisp by fire or light - though she didn't know how she would go about this last step, she knew she'd think of something.

Though this would all become more difficult, as The Doctor had said, than she first thought…


	5. Chapter 5 - Fighting Back

Clara had found that, even though she wasn't in control of her body at the moment, she could easily communicate through thought. This discovery was good in one way, as now she could speak to the wisp torturing her, but on the other hand, it meant that said wisp could read her every thought.

"So…" Clara "coughed", internally, "Do you have a name?"

"Whisper," the Wisp replied in a hissing voice, rubbing her hands together (or rather, Clara's hands).

"Whisper…" Clara repeated, "Nice: bit more imaginative than 'Shadow'. They call me The Hummingbird. Do you like music?"

"Not particularly," Whisper flatly replied, frowned, tossing the jacket she was wearing to the floor and giving her wings a few flaps to hover in the air, gazing about the room.

"Same," Clara sighed, casually, "I could've sung you a song."

"Don't bother," Whisper breathed.

"We should probably tidy up in here: it's a complete tip. How long has this place been abandoned?" Clara asked.

"Quite a while…" Whisper replied, taking Clara's advice and drifting down to clear the room of pieces of wooden beams that had fallen from the roof.

"Are you still suspicious of me?"

"Slightly."

"Ah, don't be," Clara "smiled", "I just want you to leave everyone around here alone, that's all. And if sacrificing myself is the way to go; so be it."

Whisper said nothing, just smiled, fiendishly, as she heaved a plank of wood across the room and into the pile she was making.

"Just don't try anything funny," she warned, eventually.

Clara didn't reply: she didn't like lying.

* * *

"What do we do now? Just sit back and wait for her?" Saibra asked The Doctor as they stood in the TARDIS console room.

"Course not: don't expect her to get out of there unscathed," The Doctor replied, fiddling with a few levers on the console, "I'll drop you off at home if you like, and I'll stay here and get her TARDIS room ready for her to rest when she's done her job."

Saibra nodded,

"Good idea, I'll make sure Psi stays upstairs, too."

The time rotor slowed to a stop in its place on the console and a dull thump sounded as the time machine landed back outside the house.

"Let's go," The Doctor said, waving Saibra out of the door. He followed her to make sure everything would be OK, opening the back door to the kitchen. And it was then that Psi appeared, having been looking for them.

"Where were you guys?" Psi exclaimed, a very worried expression on his face.

"Told you to stay in bed," The Doctor replied, expressionless, ignoring the question.

"It's the shadows again, isn't it?" Psi frowned, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Didn't have time."

"Where's Clara?"

"Sorting… something."

"Where?"

"Abandoned factory in Burnley."

"Will she be OK?"

"Should be."

"Is that a lie?"

"Might be."

Psi gave a sigh and darted his eyes around the room, looking for Wisps,

"The lights won't work, either, and all the torches have run out of battery. The candles don't give off that much light and the shadows are everywhere: what do I do?"

"Wait around for Clara to do her job. Then when the Wisps start disappearing, we'll go down to the factory to collect her. Simple as that," The Doctor shrugged.

"You seem rather confident in her."

"If I'm not, it'll be more likely for her to end up failing."

"Well, whatever we do, we can't wait around here," Saibra put in, "We'll catch our deaths otherwise. Where do we go?"

Hearing something thud from the corner, Psi hurriedly agreed, afraid of the monsters stalking them.

"We could head back round to the factory, I suppose," The Doctor replied, "Just let me sort out something in the TARDIS first, then we'll set off."

Saibra and Psi jumped at the opportunity and darted out of the door, scurrying to the TARDIS. The Doctor sighed and headed out after them. First on his mental checklist was to find something nice and fluffy and warm to wrap his companion in.

* * *

Clara was starting to see what The Doctor meant when he'd explained what Whisper would do… she had somehow convinced herself that – even though the repair patch had made her stronger – this experience would be the death of her and that it would happen soon if she didn't do anything about it.

So she carried out the second part of the plan: fight back and gain control.

So she brought together all of her strength to move her hand – just one little manoeuvre – but it was a great accomplishment to The Hummingbird.

Whisper didn't even seem to notice that she had dropped the last plank of wood; she only picked it back up again and dragged it into the pile.

Clara was glad the room was clear: it gave her more space to struggle – which she'd be doing a lot of in the next few hours…


	6. Chapter 6 - Hey Missy

Chapter 6

"What are you doing?" Whisper asked, calmly – though inside she was secretly rather worried – as Clara attempted to push herself forward.

"Got bored," Clara replied, her voice strained.

"That doesn't answer my question," Whisper frowned, stumbling forward as she gave into Clara's strength (which, as Saibra would tell you, she used to get out of loads of sticky situations).

"If you think about it, it does," Clara said, and her voice came out of her own mouth for once: she had regained command.

"Are you trying to… fight?" Whisper smirked, "Because I'm not sure that will work: you're only weak. I feel weak just being you."

"You' be surprised," Clara laughed, doing a 180 degree spin to face where she was standing before (any onlooker would think she was having a rather random conversation with herself).

"Would I?" Whisper retorted, regaining control.

"Certainly," Clara nodded, snapping back to power, "And if you were to ask my friends, I'm sure they'd have to agree with me."

"Friends? You'd like to think someone cares, wouldn't you?"

"They… do: did you not hear what The Doctor said to me earlier?"

"He just said that to stop you worrying," Whisper insisted, getting very tired of turning around every time she was in control.

Clara paused for a moment, not fighting back, just thinking… had The Doctor only said all those kind words to give her a glimpse of hope? But he said he'd never lie to her – they'd made an agreement – but maybe that was his plan to make her believe him.

Whisper read these thoughts and smirked; Clara was thinking exactly how she wanted her to think: believing nobody cared, that there was no soul out there who loved her.

Snapping back to reality, Clara remembered what she ought to be doing and so she once again gathered her strength and dived down to the floor in one sudden and violent manoeuvre. She stayed there for a while – arched back staying stiffened – before she stood up and brushed herself down. She reached into the pocket of her jacket to pull out a tiny box of matches…

"No, no, no, no, no!" Whisper yelped inside her head, "Don't you DARE!"

"What?" Clara smirked, manically, "Scared of fire, are we?"

"You wouldn't dare…"

"Try me," and she struck a match.

Whisper screamed blue murder at her, telling her that if she didn't blow out the match, she'd order her army to destroy everyone she'd ever loved.

Clara frowned and blew out the match before stuffing the box back in her pocket and kicking the ground,

"Well, there goes plan A…"

"What's plan B?" Whisper asked, hissing.

"Don't have one… yet," Clara replied, "But I'm sure I'll think of something."

"Get the matches and throw them out the window," Whisper ordered, indignantly.

"No."

"Do it."  
"Can't make me."

"You're the one who killed Shadow: I will destroy you at all costs. I will not let you kill any more of my kin," and she snapped back into control, angrily.

Clara let her control for a bit – she was tired, anyway.

Whisper, though (unbeknownst to Clara), had a plan: she had a secret stash of explosives that she kept hidden away in case of emergencies. You see, if she killed Clara whilst in her body, she couldn't die – she would simply gain life quicker.

Whisper smirked and bolted down the hallway to another room.

"Where are we going?" Clara asked.

"You'll see…"

Clara didn't have the energy to fight at the moment, so all she could do… was watch…

I

"Will we be safer here?" Psi asked.

"Not really. Probably worse, in fact," The Doctor replied, leaning on the closed TARDIS doors as Saibra stood, anxiously, staring up at the factory.

"I really don't want to be around here…" she whimpered, "Can't we just go round and visit my friends? They live round here, I-"

"Saibra, it's 4AM, we can't just go round visiting people at this hour in the morning," The Doctor sighed, "But, if you like, we can fast-forward a bit so we don't have to wait as long for-"

"Yes, I would like!" Saibra grinned, "Thank you, Doc."

The Doctor frowned at her, wishing he'd never spoken, and turned around again,

"Back in the TARDIS, then…"

"For goodness sake!" Psi groaned, with a frown, stepping back into the time machine after him.

When they stepped out again, they saw that there was rubble and debris absolutely everywhere…

"What happened here?" Saibra exclaimed, "This can't be right! Are you sure you put in the right time co-ordinates. Doctor?"

"Absolutely sure," The Doctor replied, rather confused himself, as he scratched the back of his neck.

He was right, too: they were at the correct co-ordinates; Whisper had set off her little collection of dynamite and the support beams had been blown up, causing the ceiling to fall in. Two ceilings, in fact. Fortunately for The Hummingbird, she had been able to regain control at the last moment and had dived out of the window next to her just in time.

 _Unfortunately_ for Whisper, this meant that her enemy was still alive… and she wasn't too happy about it.

It was a good job Psi, Saibra and The Doctor arrived when they did: the building had only just blown and there were still bits of dust and filth floating about in the air, making the situation even more mysterious.

Again, though, unfortunately they were nowhere near Clara: when she had jumped from the window, she had flown up (of course) but the vibrations from the explosion had caused a flying piece of debris to come hurtling her way and hit her on the wing, making her spiral out of control and managing to land her across a river, over a street, and into a large recycling bin behind Banny's Fish and Chip Restaurant. The bin then toppled over and landed on top of her, rolls of used kitchen roll and greasy chip boxes tumbling over her. It quite hurt to have a heavy plastic bin fall on top of her, but she didn't have much to say about it; all that escaped her mouth was a strangled groan as she pushed the bin off her back. She managed, although the bin made an almighty crash as it fell back into place.

Clara jumped back, realising just how much noise she'd made. She darted out of the rubbish pile and hid behind the bin in case anybody from the 24hr Texaco next-door came round to see what was going on. But nobody came.

"How are you still alive?" A voice from nowhere yelled at her, "The shockwaves and the fall should have killed you!"

Clara took in a short gasp, startled by it, but soon realised that it was merely Whisper, so she sniggered.

"Not me!" She smiled, "You see, I have this thing implanted in me: it's called a repair patch and it looks like a beige square with black markings. It heals me as much as it can and it also stops aging. I'm stronger than I used to be and it's going to take a lot more than a bit off a fall to kill me."

Whisper was angered at this and she pushed and shoved her way into control so she could stand up and take a look around.

"Unless you intend to leave everyone alone," Clara continued, "You might as well just give up: you're fighting a losing battle, Whisper."

"I won't give up as long as I can't die: I'll merely carry on feeding until you cave in and demise," Whisper snapped.

"Doesn't work that way," Clara replied, softly, "If anything, you'd be overwhelmed by the amount of memories I have and you'd completely perish from information overload. That is what happened to Shadow, after all…"

"Do not mention Shadow! She was a great leader and did not deserve anything you inflicted on her; you do not have permission to cite her death."

Clara scoffed and took control of herself as she heard sirens in the distance. She decided to hide somewhere better than behind a recycling bin before someone was bound to find her. She wished she'd worn her long, green coat that covered her wings rather than her short leather jacket that let them show.

She crept out of the yard behind Banny's restaurant and darted from bin to bin, keeping herself covered, until she ran out of bins to hide behind and she had to step into the open where anyone could see her, her wings and her scarred hands and face.

Suddenly, as she stepped out onto the road, she heard footsteps approaching. She darted behind a parked car as she panicked slightly.

" _Psst_!" She heard somebody whisper to her, " _Clara_!"

The voice was familiar; she'd heard it before – she suspected who it was from the accent: Scottish.

"Missy?" Clara hissed, popping her head up above the car roof and spying her standing on the road, which was more-or-less empty, save a few occasional late-night workers.

"Hey, poppet!" Missy smiled at her.

"Why are you here?"

"My vortex manipulator broke and it's programmed to send me to the vague area of The Doctor. On that note, where is he?"

"Haven't the foggiest idea."

"And what happened to you, dear? You look as if you've been dragged through a hedge… and your irises are all red…"

"Long story," Clara sighed, "You remember me telling you about Shadow, yeah? Well… in a nutshell, it turns out she wasn't the only shadow…" and her muscles convulsed as Whisper tried to fight against her.

Missy seemed to look strangely concerned at her spasmodic behaviour.

"And?" She pushed.

"And… I need your help; anyone's help."

There was silence.

Missy and Clara had been enemies since the day they met and it would be easy – too easy – for Missy to simply walk away and leave The Hummingbird to fend for herself. But Missy assumed that they were both looking for the same thing, and maybe it wouldn't hurt to take her side…

"Just at least patch me up!" Clara begged, "Bleeding like mad here!"

Missy paused,

"Come here, poppet, let's get you cleaned up…"


	7. Chapter 7 - A Very Grave Mistake

Chapter 7

The Doctor, Saibra and Psi all trooped down Charlotte street, hearing sirens approaching from somewhere, wondering where on Earth Clara had gotten to.

"We should find your girlfriend," Saibra said, addressing The Doctor, as she trotted along beside him.

"We're trying to – what did you think we're doing?" The Doctor replied, blankly, looking across at her.

"Hey, weren't we in a similar situation a few days ago?" Psi mumbled, recollecting their incident in Earth's parallel universe where they were, once again, searching for The Hummingbird.

Little did they all know, Clara wasn't just getting lost and separated from them accidentally; she was starting to get… fed up… fed up of the company of her friends. She loved them, true, but she felt something deep within: a longing to be more independent. She wanted to be left to go on her own adventures, where she wanted and when she wanted. But this, she suspected, The Doctor would never agree to.

I

Policemen hurried from their vehicles and scattered, frantically trying to search out the cause of the huge explosion that they had heard earlier. There were approximately six of them, all awfully confused and very, very tired.

"Hey…" one of them mumbled to the other, "Why are there feathers everywhere?"

"I don't know…" the other officer replied, kicking the one lying about next to his feet, "They're all blood-stained, too. Poor bird."

"Bird? They're far too large to be any kind of bird: they look more like they belonged to an angel, or-"

"Don't be ridiculous, Bob-"

"A fallen angel!" The first man (evidently Bob) exclaimed.

His friend raised an eyebrow and looked generally very sick and tired of Bob's lack of common sense.

"Right, you just keep telling yourself that, mate," he sighed, "Just let's go inside and take a look round."

I

"So what you're saying…" Missy started, "Is that you purposefully went into an abandoned factory, found another shadow like the one who almost killed you and now it's inside you and fighting over control of your body?"

"Yes," Clara nodded as Missy felt along her wing with surprising care.

Missy hadn't been able to bear the sight of all Clara's bruises and scratches, so cleaning her up ASAP was first priority. That was when they had discovered the sprain. Missy didn't feel that she could leave Clara now that she had explained all about Whisper: she felt slightly sorry for her, which was an emotion that Missy didn't feel all that often… and anyway, The Doctor would never forgive her if she just insensitively forsook his companion.

"I don't believe it," Missy sighed eventually, "You're always getting yourself into something or other."

Clara's cheeks flushed,

"Are you going to help me? I could use a hand…" she asked, "I mean, we're both looking for The Doctor – maybe it's an opportunity for us to work together for once."

Missy seemed to consider this: maybe Clara had a point…

"Fine," she said at long last, "I just need this vortex manipulator fixed, and maybe you can finally explain those wings of yours…"

I

Saibra yawned and brushed a stray piece of hair out of her eye,

"So… any vague guesses to where she might be?"

"Down a dark alley, being shady," The Doctor replied, "She won't want to step out anywhere too busy: her wings are showing. If she's anything like the TARDIS, she re-locates whenever there's danger. We'll find her, though, don't worry."

Psi suggested that they search the connected building over the river, seeing as it was pretty easy to run to, away from the law enforcement, because of the footpath suspended over the water. Everyone agreed this was a good idea, and headed to the footpath.

The moon was bright and it shone down on the streets below, even though its light was drowned out by the glow of the street lights dotted about. It was all very quiet and peaceful and, for them, relaxing. Less so for Clara.

"Doc," Psi started, after a while of nobody speaking, "If the TARDIS relocates when there's danger, will it have relocated now?"

"Probably," The Doctor replied, "But it's OK: I can summon it with the sonic screwdriver," and he stuck his hands in his pockets to hold the sonic… then a look of concern befell his face.

"Doocctoorr?" Saibra hummed, "Something up?"

"One again…" The Doctor grumbled, biting his lip, "I don't have the sonic."

I

Clara was getting tired. Very tired. She was tired of turning round in surprise every time she heard a noise that frightened her: she was scared that somebody would see her.

Missy was also getting rather tired: tired of The Hummingbird's spasms whenever Whisper regained control and angrily stated her situation before jolting back a bit and Clara coughing and apologising for Whisper's behaviour as she stiffened her muscles and brought together all of her strength just to defend her sanity.

"Why don't you take my coat, poppet?" Missy suggested, handing The Hummingbird her purple coat, "It'll cover your wings if nothing else."

"Thank you…" Clara mumbled, slipping it on, still surprised at Missy's humanity. They had strolled down the path beside the road and had then found a good, quiet street going by the name of Sandygate to hide about in as they thought. They were currently sat about where the street had an alley leading from it, going to a building with a sign reading 'UTC Lancashire: Construction and Engineering'.

"We need to think of an action plan," Missy continued, "We can't just wander about and hope that The Doctor turns up. Obviously he's around here, though, because you're here and the vortex manipulator sent me here, so where do you suspect?"

"The factory," Clara said, and she sounded certain about it, too, "Looking for me, in all probability."

"Wouldn't he have heard the explosion?"

"Precisely: makes it all the more likely."

Missy agreed this was a good idea and so they both wandered back down Sandygate and onto Trafalgar Street, heading to the factory across the river.

When they got to the building next to Texaco and Pizza Hut though, they heard police sirens coming from across the water.

"Great…" Clara muttered, "I bet they're checking out the factory – we can't head across _now!_ Is there any other way over the river?"

"Only from Sandygate again, unfortunately. We'd have to walk beside the motorway, though…" Missy replied, "And it'll take quite a while…"

"We'll still go: it's the only way," Clara nodded, then turned away from her as they trekked once again down Trafalgar Street, _'Now look what you've done, Whisper…'_ she thought.

"They'll just think it was vandals, don't fret yourself so much," Whisper scoffed in Clara's mind.

Clara shivered and darted her eyes about, looking out for any cars before she grasped Missy's hand and sprinted down the road to Sandygate.

After quite a time, they reached the turn-off for Canal Street. They could still hear sirens coming from the car park on Whittam Street, and they assumed that officers were still around about the factory.

They faltered a while – a long while, in fact.

"I can't do this…" Clara muttered, hiding her face by turning to the building beside her.

"Look, it'll be fine," Missy started as they crossed over to Queen Street where there was a cycle shop. Unfortunately, she was not correct in believing that the police wouldn't notice them, as they spied torchlight flashing from down the road where the factory was.

The duo hid beside the cycle shop and waited for the officers with the torches to pass them. They weren't seen, but they felt they would shortly be if they didn't scarper, so they hurried down the street.

Their footsteps were heard, however, and the two police officers flashed their torches in their direction, but Missy and Clara were already gone: hiding behind one of the cars parked outside the bike shop.

The officers walked back to the factory, though – none the worse and none the wiser.

"If I was locked up: you'd be, too," Clara snapped, addressing Whisper, "Why don't you just leave now?"

"Me? Leave? You wish! This way, I can feed until I'm full!"

Clara growled angrily,

"And what happens then?"

"Well, I'll become strong enough to stand my own: I'll either overpower you and keep your body or leave as a fully-formed Wisp."

"A what now?"

"As close to Human as you can get – if a bit... patchy… in places. You wouldn't even be able to tell me apart from all your lot."

Clara drew a sharp breath,

"How long will it take?" She asked.

"Let's just say that by 8AM, it will all be too late for you. Then I can join the ranks of the other mother Wisps who have already become Human: I'll be accepted as you are… all I ever wanted was to be accepted…"

Clara felt a measure of sympathy for her,

"I'll let you stay for a bit longer, then…" she muttered.

"What do you think you're doing?" Missy snapped, figuring out what the conversation was about, "By the time Whisper leaves you, you'll be so fragile that you'll be in the TARDIS sickbay for weeks, recovering!" And she stood up.

"Where are you going?" Clara asked, whimpering.

"I was going to help you, but you've gotten yourself into even more of a predicament than you were in before – voluntarily, at that – so take back what you've said, or I leave!" Missy replied, scowling down at Clara's trembling form.

"No…" Clara breathed, "I'm sticking to my promise. All I have to do is wait until eight and then everything will be fine."

Missy frowned and swiped her coat from The Hummingbird's shoulders,

"I don't think you'll be needing this," she growled, turning away, "Goodnight, Clara Oswald: I'll see you in the sanatorium after you've realised just how much of a mistake you've made."


	8. Chapter 8 - Reunion

Chapter 8

"Saibra, Psi, Doctor! Hello!"

The trio swivelled round, surprised, to see an all-too-familiar face before them,

"Missy?" They chorused.

Missy had trudged down the street leading to the factory and had crept around the policemen unseen before wandering down the bridge over the river to find The Doctor, Psi and Saibra.

"Morning!" She smiled back at them when they'd seen her, giving them a little wave, " I can't stay long, unfortunately – just thought I'd say hello! Clara was on the lookout for you three, by the way…"

"You've seen her?" The Doctor asked, suddenly showing immense intrest, "Where is she?"

Missy frowned, not so cheerful and light-hearted anymore,

"Find her yourself," and she waved a hand in the air as she turned away, "If you want a clue, she's behind a car somewhere. Now go find her," she huffed, wandering off.

"Why didn't you stay with her?" Psi shouted after her, "She's probably freezing cold and in pain!"

"I tried helping her, I really did," Missy called back to him, "But now she's made such a terrible mistake that however hard I looked, I couldn't find the point."

I

"Should have listened to Missy," Clara muttered, crouching down and hugging her knees to her chest, "Maybe I wouldn't be stuck with you for such a arduously long time…"

"Oi!" Whisper snarled, "You can't say that! You said you were going to _help_ me – you can't just walk out on that _now_."

The Hummingbird didn't reply, just keeled over to the side as a very sudden and very severe wave of nausea hit her.

"Don't be sick, Clara," Whisper huffed, "Sickness is for weaklings. You don't want me to test your strength, now, do you?"

"No," Clara choked, "No, I'm fine: I haven't been sick in almost four years."

"Can we change the subject? This is disgusting: let me take over," Whisper insisted. Clara didn't put up much of a fight, "I wonder where your 'friends' are… Do you think they've abandoned you? Wouldn't blame them, to be honest: you're frankly the most stupidly accommodating person I've ever met," the Wisp continued.

"I know…" Clara moaned, sighing, "I don't know how The Doctor has put up with me for all this time."

"I'm glad you're finally admitting your futility."

I

Psi had come to suspect, at this point, that The Doctor and Clara were telepathically linked: it seemed that The Doctor could tell exactly where his companion happened to be at any given moment.

"It's called _love!"_ Saibra insisted, nudging The Doctor's arm, but he only turned and frowned at her: he was too busy looking for his (girl)friend – any sign of her – footsteps, breathing, quiet talking, crying, choking: anything. Eventually, he heard the sound of ginger, tiptoeing steps, so he held up a finger to indicate he wanted silence.

Gazing round the corner of the cycle shop, he saw a hurried flutter of feathers and a blur dart behind a parked car (a silver Citroën Saxo, as a matter of fact).

" _Hey_ ," The Doctor whispered, " _Clara? You OK?"_

Clara's eyes peered from over the car roof, looking about. She snapped back into control, overpowering Whisper, and bounded out from behind the Citroën to meet her friends. She immediately threw herself into The Doctor's arms and found herself in a warm embrace.

"You have to help me!" Clara sobbed, her heart pounding out of her ribcage as she clung, helplessly, to the cloth of The Doctor's jacket.

The Doctor slowly rubbed her back,

"Right – calm down, sweetheart. Are you alright overall?"

"No, I'm really not and I really just want to go to sleep," Clara sniffed as The Doctor rubbed her back, attempting to calm her.

"Listen, let's head home and-"

"No… I have a job to do… and I intend to do it well: I have to finish what I started. That's what you'd do, isn't it?"

"Well… yes…" The Doctor started, "If you insist. Just… be careful, OK? Anyway, Missy came across us earlier and said you've made some sort of mistake? What've you done this time, eh?"

Clara sighed, heavily,

"Before I say," she muttered, "Promise not to hate me."

"I'm not going to: nothing could make me hate you – honest. What's done is done."

"And I'll warn you that what I've gone and done is really, really… stupid… Oh, but it doesn't matter: I just wish I hadn't gotten ahead of myself and gone and done it in the first place… but you're right: what's done is done, I suppose and it's not like anyone cares anyway. In fact, why don't you just leave me be and go and find your lonely TARDIS and be off: find yourself another companion, see if I ca-"

"Clara, no, I-" The Doctor attempted to say, but was cut off.

"Go on! GO! You've done it before! I'll fend for myself; I know you don't care so there's no use denying it. Nobody cares: I'm such a DIM IDIOT!" Clara snapped, pulling away from him.

"Clara, listen to me… you know you mean-"

"You only said that to comfort me: to give me a glimmer of 'hope' to cling onto. Well, I tell you now – it didn't work: I see right through your lies, mister, so shut up, why don't you, and let me deal with my own problems for once – alone as I should be!"

The Doctor was quiet, thinking, trying to put himself in Clara's mind frame… was it something he'd said to make her doubt him? Whatever it was, it didn't matter now: there was no time for thinks of that ilk – not now, at least.

"Look, why don't we get you safe and talk about this later, alone?" He asked.

But Clara didn't reply, only turned her back on him with a huff. She wasn't usually like this; she was one of those people who tried to look on the bright side – but Whisper was, as The Doctor had said before, causing a much more cynical outlook.

"Clara?"

Still no reply.

"Listen, I know you're a bit… mad… but if you just calm down, we'll find a way out of this… together. Because I _do_ care, you hear me? And don't you ever forget that."

Never before had The Doctor been scared of his companion… but now? Now he slightly was. There was an air about her that seemed to breathe madness and insanity.

Clara slowly turned to face him,

"Do you really want to know what I've done?"

"I really do."  
"I've sealed my fate."


	9. Chapter 9 - Heartless

Chapter 9

' _I'm not even bothered about her…_ ' Missy thought to herself as she trudged down the street, ' _Call me heartless, but the foolish girl deserves all she got. If this is how she abuses help, it's a good job for her that she's almost immortal…'_

The streetlights flickered as the Time Lady wandered the alleyways. Every so often, she'd hear the quiet chatting of two people: Psi and Saibra. They were looking for the TARDIS, she knew, which reminded her that _she_ was supposed to be finding the TARDIS, too…

She frowned and considered heading back to The Doctor, but decided that, since Clara would have told him what had happened, that would be a bad idea. Missy was currently trying to stay on The Doctor's good side, but after today, she might have to start from scratch.

Clara was also searching for something: the sonic screwdriver.

She had explained everything to The Doctor and had generally felt very guilty of her own stupidity. The Doctor hadn't responded at first, only looked at her with a face that Clara couldn't decide whether was disappointment or sympathy.

"Forget me: I'm fine…" Clara had huffed, turning away, "Just… make sure everyone else is OK, I can sort myself out," and she had walked away.

"Clara!" The Doctor had called after her, but she didn't reply, just sped up her pace and eventually ran.

She ran from the distress she had caused and the shame of having to explain her mistakes.

' _If he really loved me,'_ she thought now, as she wandered on her own (save from her unwanted companion), ' _He'd have stopped me. Don't you think, Whisper?'_

"My thoughts precisely!" Whisper smirked as Clara let her control, "Now, what is this 'sonic screwdriver' thing you're so bothered about finding?"

"Just a… a device…" Clara replied, tiredly.

"What does it do?"

"Things."

"Things…" Whisper repeated, hopping down the path and looking around. She decided to creep round the other way, towards the factory, to go and look for the sonic screwdriver without being seen by The Doctor. So to Sandygate she headed.

"Would said device that does things be worth stealing?" She asked, eventually.

"Oh, definitely," Clara hummed, "That's why I don't want it falling into the wrong hands. If it did, I don't know what would happen…"

Whisper shrugged and started to walk through the streets to the factory. There was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing going on today, she realised, and she was getting rather fed up. All she wanted was for The Hummingbird to finally cave in and die, and then she could be human and go about her new life.

"Would you say mine are the wrong hands?" She mused.

"No…" Clara sniggered, "Cause they're mine!" And she laughed at her own rubbish joke.

"What do you think's so funny?" Whisper snarled, annoyed at the realisation that she didn't yet actually _have_ hands.

"Nothing… I just thought we'd be better off making friends: after all, you're stuck with me for three hours yet!"

"Listen – I don't want your friendship, I just want to be human," Whisper spat, angrily.

"Fair enough, killjoy," Clara replied, light-heartedly. She believed what she'd said. She'd had time to think while they were walking and she realised now that she wasn't going to get anywhere if she didn't carry out the next part of her plan. She could do this, she told herself, if only she could think of _how…_

When they eventually reached the factory, there were still police officers everywhere, still searching the place. Clara was fed up of the police: whether she was hiding from them or helping them, they never really brought her anything good.

Whisper stayed out of sight, listening to the officers talk among themselves.

"Vandals?" One suggested.

"Probably. If so, we need to find them," another replied, flashing his torch about.

"Talking about finding…" Whisper murmured, "We need to find this sonic screwdriver…"

"Careful not to be seen," Clara warned her, hissing. She didn't want to be locked up for something she hadn't done – that was definitely _not_ on her list of things she'd like to do.

Whisper shrugged and waited until the coast was clear, then ran like a bullet towards the entrance to the factory. When she entered, there were still policemen inside, but they didn't seem to see or hear her. Good.

 _"You take over,"_ she thought, _"You know what the thing looks like."_

So The Hummingbird snapped into power and started to retrace her steps through the place, trying not to be heard by the men. All the while, she was thinking. She had gone back to her negative view: it had been alright when she was alone with Whisper, but when she came into close proximity to other people, she tensed up and somehow convinced herself of her own fate.

And Whisper was grinning. Grinning because every time Clara gave in, she gained a little bit more life – one step closer to achieving her goal.

' _Is it all just a show of sympathy put on for me? I don't need sympathy: all I need is help…'_ Clara thought, ' _Not that I can't deal with my own problems, it'd just be nice to have a hand with the decision-making. After all, I wouldn't be in the position I am now if someone hadn't turned it all into an argument. Maybe Missy is better off as an enemy… or maybe I'll try and make it up to her when I'm fully sane.'_

The Hummingbird was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she forgot what she was looking for and tripped up over something. Gazing down to the floor, she saw that it was the sonic.

She picked it up and tossed it up and down in her hand,

"Easy…" she whispered, "Now all we have to do is get back to The Doctor and wait for 8 o'clock."

Whisper was silent. And she stayed silent as Clara headed out of the factory and back out onto the cold streets again. Both she and Clara knew where The Doctor would be waiting: near the cycle shop. But when they had made their way over the river and rounded the corner of Charlotte Street, they heard two voices talking… one of them being Missy.

Clara snarled, overhearing Missy talk about her,

"I don't know why you like her so much," she heard, "I mean, she's hardly at all tactful."

Whisper could feel The Hummingbird becoming more and more incensed as though she was just about ready to snap again and destroy everything anyone had ever loved. But Clara managed to pull herself together and composed herself before heading round the corner,

"Missy, Missy, Missy," she tutted, "Have you forgotten who you're dealing with here?"

"Oh, poppet! We were just talking about you!" Missy grinned, sheepishly, realising by The Hummingbird's stance that she meant business: outspread wings and folded arms.

"I heard…" Clara growled.

The Doctor stood, quietly. Secretly, he felt rather sorry for Missy: she was about to experience the wrath of the Wisp-influenced, half insane young woman of whom she had so openly insulted. Best just to take a step back.

"Don't you have bigger worries at the moment?" Missy asked, tentatively, "Just focus on Whisper and-"

"Be quiet, Missy; I can hardly remember how this all started, but all I can hear is your nagging voice teasing and criticizing me for making one simple decision: the best decision I could have made, in fact. Right now, you're pushing my limits and I'm just so fed up of it: of you, of everything. And don't you anger me when I'm like this, or you'll be in even more of a predicament than I!" Clara snapped, and her eyes seemed to flash.

"Oooh! A cat fight!" A voice said, suddenly.

Clara spun around to see Psi and Saibra standing close behind. She growled, under her breath, as her anger built up. She felt just about ready to kill everyone and make it look like some sort of freak accident, but at that moment, she spied something… another Wisp. It was lurking behind Missy, but the Time Lady didn't seem to notice.

 _"Echo…"_ Whisper hissed.

 _"Who?"_ Clara thought.

 _"My sister… my strange, strange sister…"_

 _"What's so strange about her?"_

 _"She only feeds from 'bad' people and leaves the 'good'. She desperately wants to become human, even more than I do, but I always tell her it will take too long if she spares 70% of her prey. When she does find a 'bad' person, however, she will try and make their death as painful as possible as she drains their life."_

 _"She sounds nice… as nice as a Wisp can be, anyway."_

 _"But you're angry at Missy, so she's seeing Missy as a bad person, I think."_ Whisper explained.

Clara bit her lip. She had a decision to make, seeing as nobody else had seemed to notice Echo. Her decision was a difficult one: save Missy and experience even more pain than she was going through _now_ , or leave Missy to face the pain _she_ was currently facing.

What made her decision a bit easier was thinking of all the times Missy had been callous: abandoning her, ridiculing her, bad-mouthing her…

The Hummingbird sighed and made her final decision.

She knew she would regret this.


	10. Chapter 10 - Screaming Blue Murder

Chapter 10

"Quick! Make it look like I'm evil! Struggle, act helpless, shout, just DO SOMETHING!" Clara hissed, pinning Missy to the wall.

"Wha- why?" Missy stammered.

"Just do it! You'll see why!"

Missy did as instructed, thought she was still confused. She didn't have to act that much, surprisingly, as Clara was stronger than she'd first expected – well, she wasn't just human anymore, was she? Her wings added to the force of the blow and made her appear bigger than she actually was.

Clara also did her best to look as evil as possible, and Echo fell for the lure…

The new wisp mother dived in through Clara's eyes and mouth to meet her sister, Whisper…

"What?" Clara heard Echo yell, "What are YOU doing here, Whisper?"

"TRYING TO BECOME HUMAN, WHAT DO YOU THINK?" Whisper shouted, annoyed that now she had to put up with her irritating sister.

The yelling and arguing that soon followed gave Clara the most horrible headache she couldn't help but reconsider saving Missy, even though what she did was right.

"What are you doing?" Missy asked, coughing.

"What does it look like?" Clara snapped, "Saving you, of course!"

Missy's face fell: after all she'd put her through, she was still willing to spare her from having to go through what she had… why? Couldn't be from camaraderie, surely… or could it?

The fact was that Clara had always been taught never to seek revenge. Her dying wish was for The Doctor to not take vengeance for her death because she knew that nothing ever good comes from fighting back – only an endless stream of retribution – but if you were benign to your enemy, maybe you could gain an ally. And you can never have too many helping hands at the ready.

"Why..?" Was all Missy could murmur.

Clara didn't reply, her grip only loosened and she slowly starting getting weaker… by the second…

Going…

The Wisps were fighting. What they were fighting about, Clara did not know and nor did she care; she only knew it hurt… like knives being driven into her head.

Going…

It was like listening to heavy metal music with dubstep playing over it, all through ultra bass headphones with the volume on full blast.

Going…

She hated it. Hated everything: wanted it all to stop, just –

And she was gone.

I say 'gone' – she was half-asleep, barely conscious, keeled over on the pavement and feeling like her heart was beating in her throat. All the while, all she heard… was screaming.

This really wasn't her day.

"Clara? Talk to me, Clara!"

The Doctor's voice was but a dull noise in the back of Clara's mind. She just wanted to be alone to sort herself out… though… a hug _would_ be nice.

' _Just be quiet: the last thing I want is more noise,'_ she thought to herself, but even her thoughts were drowned out by the ear-splitting screeching.

Missy, Psi and Saibra stayed silent, watching as The Doctor sat with his companion – attempting to calm her, even though she refused help.

At that very moment, though, a warm glow filled the sky…

The sunrise.

The screams stopped…

"8AM…" Whisper breathed as Echo growled.

' _What now?'_ Clara thought, ' _Are you leaving?'_

"Yes, I'm…" Whisper gasped, "I'm HUMAN! YES! YES!" And she laughed, wickedly, as Clara caught her breath.

The others watched on as Whisper drifted out of Clara's mouth and into the open. She tried to form herself into a human… but she couldn't…

Echo screeched at the top of her voice as she saw her sister burned in the daylight, hissing like a deflating balloon as she did.

Saibra looked at her watch: 7AM… an hour too early.

The worst part of this experience for everyone but Clara was seeing Whisper burn, as she came so close to being human that it seemed as if an actual person was standing there, frying in the sun until there was nothing at all left of her.

But for Clara, the worst part was still going on: the shouting. She could feel herself starting to have a fainting fit, her arms wobbling as she put all of her weight onto them, attempting not to give in and show Echo was superior, because she certainly wasn't.

But Echo wouldn't give up either: she yelled and shoved and screamed and pushed until her opponent could no longer take it on her own.

The Hummingbird let out a choked sob as she held out one of her hands to try and hold The Doctor's arm. Her eyes were squeezed shut in pain and a single tear fell from her eye and trickled down her cheek.

She hadn't shed tears for a good few months, since Pride died, but now she thought it was reasonable to let herself cry a bit. After all, this could be her final hour for all she knew.

Her tears stifled her and her ears rung with screams, but she managed to keep holding on. Only just…

"Make it stop..!" She choked, the redness from her eyes dripping down her cheeks and into her mouth. It tasted of blood, "It just keeps whirring in my mind and I wish I could just stop time, even if just for two minutes, so I could be calm for once- just make it stop: I hate it, it's like a million chainsaws drilling into my head all at once and I can't breathe or think or, or-"

She could have gone on but she was cut off by being pulled into a sudden, unpredicted embrace. Both she and The Doctor were silent, save from Clara's occasional choke or sob.

She was calm for half a minute before the pain struck again: this time a sharp jab to her side. The Doctor could feel her dig her nails into the back of his neck and give his shoulder a soft(ish) bite to try and ease the pain, though it didn't work.

"Make it stop…" she whimpered, quieter this time, her tears making it hard to breathe.

"Shh…" The Doctor hushed, "It's OK, sweetheart, just calm down…"

"I only wanted to spare Missy the pain-" Clara sobbed, "I honestly didn't expect this: the pain, the screaming, the weakening stabs to my sanity… can it go now, please? I'm so tired… very… very tired…"

For some reason, Echo was quiet for a moment.

"You… you did it to spare your… enemy?" She asked.

' _Nobody deserves what Shadow and Whisper did to me and I don't think I could live with the knowledge that I could have done something about it…'_ Clara thought in reply, sniffing.

Echo was silent as Clara let out another whimper, muffled by the cloth of The Doctor's jacket. At that moment, Echo regretted her doing. She knew how much pain she could easily cause and how loud everything that she said was, how it rang in her victims' ears… and now she knew that her victim didn't _deserve_ the pain. She had vowed herself never to harm the innocent, but now how could she stop? It was daytime after all: if she went out, she'd burn just as her sister did…

She faced a decision not unlike the one Clara had been confronted with earlier: save her own life or that of another?

Like Clara, though, it didn't take long for her to make her decision…

* * *

All that the confused trio of onlookers saw of these next few minutes was the wispy form of Echo drift out of Clara's eyes and mouth and then, to their surprise, Echo re-forming herself into a human…

Echo, too, seemed surprised at herself.

So this all came as a shock to everybody (excluding Clara, who was turned the other way), and Echo's appearance itself was slightly strange. Seeing as she hadn't had time to form properly, she looked rather… patchwork. She had white skin, yellow skin, brown skin and black skin – her hair was mis-matched, too: brown, black, blonde and red. One of her eyes was still red and the other one was a green-brown (a bit like Clara's eyes, suspiciously…). Surprisingly, she formed with clothes on, too (whether these clothes were part of her anatomy was unlikely, yet possible). All in all, she looked very jumbled up.

She blinked her mixed up eyes to look, sadly yet thankfully, upon Clara, who weakly turned her head to look at her.

"I'm sorry about that," Echo coughed, almost embarrassed, "But thank you for all your help…" and she turned away.

The four time-travellers watched as she strolled, silently, down a dark street, turning back once to look over her shoulder before running away, never to be seen again…

And as swiftly as she had appeared, she was gone.


	11. Chapter 11 - The Hummingbird Falls

Chapter 11

"Feeling better, then?" The Doctor asked, hearing Clara enter the console room from the hallway behind him. He didn't even have to turn around – he knew it was her: she had very distinctive footsteps.

"Much better, thank you!" Clara nodded in reply, her eyes fixated on the time rotor in its tube on the console, listening to the soft hum of the brilliant machine.

"Good," The Doctor said, in want of a better reply.

All was silent until Clara piped up again, looping her arms around The Doctor and laying her chin on his shoulder,

"I've been thinking," she coughed, "But I'm not sure you'll be too happy about it…"

The Doctor frowned, uncertainly.

"And it's nothing to do with what happened with Whisper an Echo and all, just… just hear me out here. Please?"

* * *

The Doctor and The Hummingbird stood, staring out into the depths of space… it was a beautiful view, and it was the last time they would share it together, for all they knew.

"It's not like I'll _never_ see you again, right?" Clara hummed, eventually, wiping her eye, "Just… not as much as I do now…"

"Yes, I realise that," The Doctor replied, leaning on the doorframe of the TARDIS, gazing at the stars.

Clara swallowed,

"And I'll come back, of course, every once in a while… to see Psi and Saibra, you know. So, don't tell anyone I'm gone… just tell them I'm on holiday and I'll be back soon."

"And will you be?"

"Depends. Will you miss me?"

"Definitely," The Doctor nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Clara fiddled, awkwardly, with the vortex manipulator around her wrist. The Doctor had given it to her, seeing as there were no spare TARDISes left – besides, a TARDIS would be too clumsy, and she couldn't fly one anyway.

"Thanks for the… thing… by the way," Clara coughed, "They'll come in handy," and she smiled.

"One last thing…" The Doctor smiled, sheepishly, taking one hand out of his pocket and handing Clara a small, navy-blue, gold patterned box, "I'm… always here if you need me…"

Clara opened the box to see a ring. Not an engagement ring or a wedding ring or anything (it didn't have to be), it was just a ring. But a very pretty ring it was: it resembled two wings that would wrap around your finger. It was golden coloured and silver and honestly one of the prettiest rings Clara had ever seen.

She closed the box, slipped it into the pocket of her coat (her favourite coat: the green one that she always wore with the green scarf that Sherlock had given her) and initiated a sudden hug between herself and The Doctor, who gave in to her for once instead of pushing her away.

"I love you…" Clara breathed, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

The Doctor mumbled something behind her back that sounded like 'you too, darling' but Clara couldn't be sure. She didn't really care, though.

They both slowly let go and Clara straightened her scarf before putting her hat on and tipping it toward The Doctor,

"See ya' round, Doctor."

"Until next time, Hummingbird."

And with a simple step backwards, The Hummingbird dropped with such pure grace and beauty from the doors of the TARDIS, holding onto the rim of her hat as she fell through the stars, embarking on her own adventures that would last until the end of time.

THE END


End file.
